Insurance Helpline With cedric Stephens

Question: I was involved in an accident in late July. The other driver broke a stop sign and ran into my car.

My vehicle was written off.

My hand was hurt, but not seriously. Painkillers were prescribed at the hospital.

A friend told me that I would not be getting the full value for my car, even though I have comprehensive coverage. Is that true? I may have to spend more money now to buy another vehicle. He also said that nothing would be paid for the pain that I suffered because the hospital did not charge me. Will my claim for the loss of use be dependent on the other driver's policy?

- camille_f10@hotmail.com.

Answer: I am very glad that you escaped with minor injuries even though your car was totalled.

Motor vehicles are made of metal, plastics, glass and rubber. It is quite easy to replace them, if funds are available. Human bodies are not made of any of that stuff.

Even so, they are worth far more than the most expensive cars. Because of this, the priority will be on the personal injury part of your enquiry. The issues relating to 'the old iron' will take second place.

Personal-Injury Claims are Big Business:

Google lists 640,000 entries on motor vehicle personal-injury claims. A global industry has been built to deal with these matters.

Locally, more than half of the $6 billion that insurers paid last year was for personal-injury claims. All of the websites that I visited shared one thing. Personal-injury claims are best handled by specialists like attorneys and claims-management firms.

The odds are stacked against you when you try to get settlement without professional help. Insurers have lawyers on their staff. They can also hire big law firms.

If your friend is not an attorney, I would not place too much weight on what he said about your claim for pain and suffering. I suggest that you contact an attorney for advice.

In the meantime, FreeAdvice (http://accident-law.freeadvice.com/auto/personal-injury-check list.htm) offers this suggestion: "Log all (doctor's) office visits, prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, laboratory services, physical therapy, hospital visits, treatments, medical documents, and X-rays, including the names, dates of visits, amount charged, and reasons for seeing the medical providers."

Pain, discomfort, emotional distress, fatigue, tenderness and inconvenience, it says, are some of the things that are taken into account in these types of claims.

Property Damage Claims:

The word 'comprehensive' is a relative term. It does not mean - as some hotels describe themselves - as 'all-inclusive' or 'super, all-inclusive'.

"Wide in scope" and "large content or scope" are two definitions.

Comprehensive motor-insurance policies do not cover everything. If the insurers were to settle your claim on the basis of the amount for which the car was insured, its market value at the time of the collision, you would probably have to find additional funds to buy another vehicle. This is because of the deductible (or excess) - which is a standard feature of policies like yours. You would have to find even more money if the car was insured for less than its market value.

the excess

The deductible (or excess) is a percentage of the insured value of the vehicle. It could be five per cent or 10 per cent of the market value. In the case of a $2.5 million vehicle, the amount could be as high as $250,000 or as low as $125,000.

Car owners are expected to bear the excess. Insurers provide coverage for only 90 or 95 per cent of the insured's property-damage claim.

Where an accident is caused by another driver, and, provided he had insurance and his insurers agreed to pay, the deductible, loss of use and other expenses, would be recovered from that insurer.

If the third party has no insurance or his insurers refuse to pay, then you will have to seek redress using the legal system.

I sincerely hope that this short explanation will help you to pro-perly navigate the uncharted waters that you have entered as a result of your first accident.

Cedric E. Stephens provides free, independent information and advice about risk and insurance. Email: aegis@cwjamaica.com.